On January 1, 1943, while people were sitting in their homes and enjoying a New Year's dinner, Soviet and German soldiers were still fighting on the front lines. Pen @ fun @ pavilion wWw. ｂｉｑUｇE。 ｉｎｆｏ

By the time of the New Year, the Soviets had basically recovered all of Belarus, and Baghramyan's 1st Baltic Front had successfully advanced to the shores of the Gulf of Riga, successfully cutting off Army Group North from its land supply channels and contact with the mainland.

Outraged by the successive German defeats, Hitler removed Fedor von Bock, commander of Army Group Center, from his post and called the veteran marshal a "proud loser."

In order to hinder the offensive of the Soviet army, the German General Staff formulated an operational plan called "Operation Frederick", ordering the Northern Ukrainian Army Group to mobilize forces and send troops from northern Western Ukraine to the north to attack the southern flank of the Soviet army in Belarus; Army Group North, together with Army Group Center, sent troops south to attack the northern flank of the Soviet army in Belarus, forming a posture of encircling the Soviet army.

By this time, the Belarusian Soviet troops had advanced to the Grodno-Brest line, forming a huge salient. Most of the forces of the Belarusian fronts were deployed on the western front, facing Army Group Center, while only a small number of troops were deployed in the area bordering Army Group North Ukraine.

If Army Group Northern Ukraine takes advantage of the situation to move north and outflank it from Western Ukraine, it will be difficult for the Belarusian Soviet troops to stop them in a short time.

However, it was impossible for Army Group North to move south together, because Army Group North was already unable to defend itself at that time, and it had been besieged by the Soviet army in the area of Latvia and Estonia, and at the same time, it had to deal with the attack of the three fronts of the Soviet army, and it was simply unable to draw enough troops to outflank it south.

Even so, the northward movement of Army Group North Ukraine had a certain impact on the Bagration operation. The commander of the 1st Belorussian Front, Rokossovsky, ordered the troops to stop advancing, removed the troops of 1 Army Group and went to the area of Pinsk to block the enemy, and asked the Supreme High Command to allow the 1st Ukrainian Front to provide support.

Upon receiving the request, Stalin summoned all members of the Supreme High Command to the Kremlin for an emergency meeting.

After Stalin sat down, he glanced at everyone, and then turned his gaze to Zhukov, the chief of the General Staff of the Soviet Army, "Comrade Zhukov, please tell you about the latest situation." ”

"Just half an hour ago, our reconnaissance aircraft detected an emergency situation - the German Army Group North Ukraine had begun to gather forces in the area around Sarne and began to move north.

All indications show that the purpose of the Germans' operation this time is to attack the left flank of our First Belorussian Front, force the First Belorussian Front to divide its forces to block it, and slow down the pace of our army's offensive.

Not long ago, Comrade Rokossovsky, commander of the 1st Belorussian Front, had mobilized an army group, which was moving to the Pinsk area, preparing to block the Germans and request reinforcements from the 1st Ukrainian Front of our army.

Just now, after consulting with Comrade Stalin, our General Staff has already worked out two plans. The first plan was for the First Ukrainian Front to launch an offensive against the German forces in the area of Sarne in western Ukraine and force the Germans to withdraw to the defense.

The second option is to immediately launch the Lviv-Sandomierz offensive, launch a full-front offensive against the German army in western Ukraine, advance to the old border, and drive the German army out of our territory. What do you think? ”

"I think the second option is preferable." Speaking was the Deputy Prime Minister in charge of national defense, Field Marshal Kliment Voroshilov, "At present, both the First Ukrainian Front and the Fourth Ukrainian Front are deployed on the front line of the battlefield and can launch an attack on the German army in western Ukraine at any time.

Although the scheduled date for the operation of the Lviv-Sandomierz offensive is still a week away, most of the units of our army are already in place, and there is absolutely no problem in attacking in advance. ”

"I also agree with Comrade Voroshilov," said Stalin, with his pipe in hand and his yellow-brown eyes staring at the location of Western Ukraine on the map, "that we should launch a full-front attack on the German forces in Western Ukraine in accordance with the plan of the Lviv-Sandomierz offensive, taking advantage of the opportunity of their division of forces to the north."

Since the German army is attacking from northern western Ukraine to the area around Belarus, this means that their forces deployed in northern western Ukraine are thinned by troops moving north, and the German defense line deployed in northern western Ukraine should be relatively weak at this time.

In that case, we should take advantage of the weakness of their defenses to launch a surprise attack on them.

We should deploy more forces in northern Ukraine, in positions in northern western Ukraine, to break through the German lines. Once our troops have broken through the enemy's lines, they can continue to penetrate and outflank the German forces in southern western Ukraine from behind. ”

"I also think that the second package is preferable, but I still have some reservations about the content of the operational plan for the Lviv-Sandomierz offensive developed by the General Staff." A young voice came from the side of the conference table, and needless to say, everyone knew it was Manturov's voice.

"Why? Do you have a better solution? Before Manturov could begin to explain, Marshal Budyonny began to question his point of view.

Manturov glanced at Voroshilov, and then said: "My idea is to let the First Ukrainian Front advance from the north of Moldova and southern Ukraine to the west in the direction of Lviv-Kowill, and the First Belorussian Front will send 2-3 army groups from the Kobrin-Brest area to the south to join the Ukrainian First Front in the area from Lviv to Kowill." ”

The people present were all bigwigs in the Soviet military circles, and before Manturov finished speaking, they had already guessed the intention of this young man - to encircle the main force of the German Army Group in North Ukraine.

"Comrade Manturov, your idea is very good, if successful, we will be able to wipe out hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of German troops in the western Ukraine." Voroshilov objected in a calm tone: "But if we do this, we will take a big risk, and I am afraid that the feasibility will not be high." ”

Molotov Timoshenko, who was present, nodded his head and agreed with Voroshilov's opinion, believing that Manturov's plan for encirclement was too risky and difficult, and if something went wrong, it would probably lead to a disastrous result.

Just when everyone was about to work together to veto the "encirclement plan", Zhukov, chief of the General Staff of the Soviet Army, actually expressed his stance on Manturov's side: "I think Comrade Manturov's plan is feasible, first of all, ......"